FarmQA Scouting App Instructions

FarmQA Scouting

FarmQA has designed a powerful, user friendly, mobile scouting application. The mobile app can be used by all levels of a farming operation to quickly and efficiently capture field conditions throughout the growing season. Below are instructions on how to use the FarmQA Scouting application 

FarmQA Scouting Instructions

• The FarmQA scouting app can be downloaded from either the AppStore, or the Google Play store.
• First login to the scouting application. Click "Request Demo" at the login page if you do not have a login.

• To start a scouting report click on the "Fields" tab in the bottom left-hand corner
• You will have the choice to locate the desired field from either the Map or List view, as shown below. Click the field to begin scouting.
  • The base layer of the map view can be changed by clicking on the map icon on the right-hand side of the screen (below the arrow)
  • The search feature in the list view can be used to filter by crop or field name. The list will also display the distance to each field from your currently location. 
  • The hollow arrow indicates that the map will follow your navigation and refresh the map as you move through your scouting route. Click the arrow to show your current location centered on the map.
• If you don't have fields in FarmQA, use the plus button in the bottom right-hand corner of the app to draw fields
  • See this article for further instructions on creating fields

Add an Observation 

1. Start a new report by tapping on the field to scout in either the map or list view
2. To start a new observation, tap on the field. The user will be presented with the scouting template ready to be answered.  
3. FarmQA Scouting supports two ways of doing crop observations.
   • Single location- some scouts like to only record one observation for each field. This can be done by clicking on the map once, completing the template, then submitting the report.
   • Multiple locations- Other scouts prefer to record multiple locations. To do a 2nd or 3rd observation, just tap the back arrow until you are looking at the map of the field and tap anywhere to start a new observation. 

Add a Question

1. First tap on a section (insects, disease etc.)
2. Provide an answer to a question as shown below
3. Tap the three vertical dots to add pictures or draw on the map for a specific questions

Location Specific Information

1. A user can also provide detailed location information by answering a question, then tapping on the "DRAW ON MAP" button.
2. The map is now expanded and the user can choose from 4 different tools: line, shape, point, edit and delete respectively. 
3. Select a tool, the icon will highlight yellow, then tap on the map to indicate map location information.
4. When done drawing shapes, tap the "X" icon in the upper-left hand corner to close and save the draw on map feature. 

Adding a picture

1. A user can also add photos by answering a question, then tapping on the "TAKE A PICTURE" or "ATTACH IMAGE" button.
2. The "take a picture" icon will allow a user to take a picture in real time from their device. The "attach image" option should be used for pictures that have already been taken.
   • Note: a user must accept the "allow FarmQA scouting to access the camera" for this feature to function.

Submit a Report

1. To submit a report, simply tap the red check icon in the bottom-right when viewing the map of the field (see below). The user may have to use the back button to get back to this point.

Resume an In-Progress Report

1. If a scouting report has been started but not completed, it can be accessed by clicking "reports"->"in-progress reports" (see below).
2. To complete an in-progress report, simply select it from the in progress list and click the submit arrow.
3. Note: “in progress reports” can also be viewed and completed without connectivity.

Start an Adhoc report

1. There are times when a user may need to scout a field that is not defined in FarmQA. For this case, a user needs to start an adhoc report. Starting an adhoc report can be done by tapping the action button with the “+” icon on the lower right of the home page. 
2. The user will need to supply a field name or description and choose a template to use.
3. Everything is identical to starting a new report, except there will be no field boundary shown. 

Offline Scouting

1. If a user is scouting in an area with poor connectivity, they should use the offline scouting mode. This can be done by switching the phone to Airplane mode
2. In the offline mode the user can work from the list view to start reports. When adding observations there will not be a map of the field, but instead a "+" icon to start observations

Troubleshooting

• No fields show up in the app, but I see them in FarmQA Controller
  
  • This indicates that fields in FarmQA Controller either 1) do not have a crop assigned or 2) the assigned crop does not have an associated scouting template. See this article for further instructions.

Please contact FarmQA Support with any further questions